Apparatus for treating oil



June 13, 1939.

T. A. LA BRECQUE APPARATUS FOR TREATING OH.-

F'iled July 10, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l I EcLA/MED OIL 0/27? OIL.

[XI 'EX TOR. THEODORE A. LA BreEcaL/E, Lima m June 13, 1939. A, LA BRECQUE 2,161,964

APPARATUS FOR TREATING OIL Filed July 10, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. F-IEODORE A. [A Brescaus,

AT ORNEY.

Patented June 13, 1939 UNITED STATES TENT OFFICE to The Hilliard Cerporaticn, Elmira, N. Y.,

corporation of New York Application July 10, 1934, Serial No. 734,500

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a structurally and functionally improved reclaiming apparatus, capable of use in numerous different associations, but primarily intended for employment in comnection with the reclaiming of oil. The invention additionally contemplates the teaching of a method by means of which oil and similar material may be efliciently and economically reclaimed.

It is a well appreciated fact that considerable difliculty has heretofore been encountered in the reclaiming of oil and similar substances. More especially oilsometimes after only a short and not excessive period of use-has become discolored, diluted with water, gasoline and other liquids, filled with particles of foreign matter, etc. Insofar as the oil itself is concerned, it has, in fact, better body and lubricating characteristics than initially existed, but its usefulness, due

to the impurities and discoloration, has been destroyed and it has largely been thrown away.

In certain instances where large amounts of this oil were available, involved processes and apparatus have been resorted to for the re- 5 claiming of the oil. The practice of these processes has been, at best, quite expensive and certain of them have been of doubtful elficiency. In any event, in almost all instances where only small quantities of oil have been in question (in the case of a sin le service station, or smilar plant) it has been entirely uneconomic to attempt a proper reclaiming of the oil and hence most conscientious operators have disposed of the same in any convenient manner.

With the foregoing in mind the present invention aims to provide a unitary apparatus comprising relatively few components, each individually simple and rugged in construction, which components, when assembled, provide an oil re- 4 claiming mechanism capable of use over long periods of time with freedom from difficulties.

Moreover, by means of the present invention a setup of apparatus is furnished which will allow of the ready practice of the improved 4:; method herein involved.

Among further objects of the invention are those of teachin a method and furnishing an apparatus which may be employed by relatively unskilled operators. which may be of a continuous nature, and which will be extremely economical, aside from the fact that the reclaimed product will be of excellent quality and free from discoloration, impurities and dilutents.

With these and other objects in mind, reference is had to the attached sheets of drawings illustrating one practical embodiment of the novel apparatus by means of which the present invention may be practiced and in which drawings Fig. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic and par tially sectional side view of a grouping of apparatus:

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional side view of one unit of such apparatus, and

Fig. 3 is a plan view of certain of the parts shown in Fig. 2.

Referring especially to Fig. 1, numeral 5 indicates a tank of proper capacity and which receives the body of dirty oil. Extending from this tank is a conduit 6 which is connected with a pump 1 for forcing the oil upwardly through the tube 8. The tube may have its body formed to provide a coil 9 for a purpose hereinafter described, and this tube is extended, as at ID, to connect with a head I! forming a part of a filter casing. The lower ed es of the head are drawn towards the base I 2 of the filter, as, for example, by means of bolts, nuts and lugs indicated at l3, and a substantially air-tight fit is provided. The continued portion of the tube- H3 may be of somewhat flexible material, so that the cover Il may be shifted upwardly without danger-of the parts rupturing. Such upward shifting may be conveniently provided for, as, for example, by a lever 14. pivotally connectedto a stem l5 afiixed to the cover H and having its inner end similarly secured to a frame l6 supporting the apparatus. The base I2 is provided with an opening l1. throu h which the fluid may flow into a vaporizing chamber pro-"' vided by a casing I8.

As has been particularly shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the base of this vaporizing chamber is preferably formed by employing a conical member H) which has upon its upper surface a series of annular flanges 28, each interrupted at one end at a point short of a transversely extending baffle H. In this manner a tortuous passage is provided extending from the central portion of the member if and in line with the opening I! to a point adjacent the outer edge of this memher at which point an outlet opening 22 is provided. Accordingly, oil flowing through the opening ll will be deposited centrally of the member and will continue down the tortuous passage, finally flowing through the outlet 22. This outlet connects with a pipe 23 in turn connected to a tank 24 for the purpose of receiving the reclaimed fluid.

Also mounted upon the frame It is a motor driven vacuum pump, generally indicated at 25,

and which has an outlet 26. The latter should exhaust at a point substantially remote from the operator, so that no objections may be encountered in connection with fumes discharged therefrom. Of course, any othersuitable'expedient for dissipating these fumes may be resorted to. The

suction 'end of this pump is connected to a tube 21 which, in turn, connects with a tank 28. Extending from this tank is a condenser 29 which may take the form of a downwardly projecting coil, the upper end of which is connected to the V .fiows freely. It will be observed, with reference 7 to the filter, that there may be disposed. within the casing 'of this unit, a shell 3|, at the base of which there is arranged :alayer of filter paper or equivalent material 32, in turn resting upon a layer of canvas 33 which may be mounted by a ring 34 extending beyond the casing. The outlet opening ll may be guarded by a screen 35, as shown.

In usingan apparatus of this nature, the tank '5 may be of sufiicient capacity so that oil may be deposited therein from time to time and allowed to accumulate; After a certainbody of oil has so accumulated, the apparatus may be operated. Of course, a certain amount of foreign material may be. initially drawn off after the oil has settled, by opening thepet-cock at the bottom of the tank. This tank may have its intakeopening guarded by a screen so that large particles or bodies of foreign matter may not be introduced. 'The heater 29, together with the -pumps,.is caused to operate, and by the time the fiuid'reaches the'vaporizing chamber the temperature of the latter will have been raised to a proper point. The pump 1 serves to control the flow of oil to be cleaned so that a constant flow is assured even if different viscosities are encountered. j g

The vacuum pump 25,.of course, serves through tube 21, tank 28, tube 29, casing l8, the filter casing, tube l0, and coil 9 to exert a certain suction on the oil flowing upwardlythrough tube 8, but inmost instances itis preferred (as afore brought out) to supplement this 'action by the pump 1. In any event,

the preheating coil9, so that from this point on i it will run freely and is discharged from the end of tube lflinto the filter casing. Disposed within this filter casing is any suitable filtering mate- 'rial as, for example, fullers earth, or diatomaceous'earth within. which a layer of filtering paper or its equivalent may be embedded (not shown).

The casing 3| serves to confine this filtering body,

and the oil in its'passage therethrough obviously in intimate contact with particles of the filtering body. In so doing it will be decolorized and cleared, in addition to the fact that any acids present will be neutralized. Moreover, it will be apparent that solids and colloidal impurities will 7 be separated from the oil. The liquid will now fiow through the opening I! into the central space defined by the innermost flange of the conical member, 18., In ,such space, in its subsequent travel through the tortuous passage, the oil will 7 Moreover, the device may the oil passes through V be subjected to a temperature of approximately 380 F. (the thermostat serving to maintain this temperature) Due to the flange structure a relatively long passage is provided within the existing constricted space and the inclination of the surfaces should be sufficiently small so that a rapid flow does not occur. The vaporizing chamber being con-' nected to the end ofcoil 29, of course is subjected to a constant and relatively high vacuum (for example, 20"). As a consequence, the boiling off of water, gasoline, etc., is materially accelerated,

in addition to the fact that the resultant vapors are caused to fiow into the coil 29. The oil, however, flows through the opening 22 into the tank 24 where it may be withdrawn as desired.

' The vapors flowing into coil 29 are, of course, condensed and are deposited within the tank 28. From this tank they may be periodically withdrawn as useful by-products, or-maybe thrown away, as desired. .It is obvious'flthat :a-nyva pors which have not been .rec onden sed willbe harm lessly discharged through the pipe, or, if desired, some expedient maylbe resorted to for the purpose of recapturing them in useful form.

The reclaimed oil will befound to be perfect in every respect, and it is apparent that an apparatus of this nature involves a process which may be practiced by a relatively unskilled perthat the apparatus will son, aside from thefact operate eificiently in the hands of thatperson. I be manufactured in sizes proper for a small user, so that two or three service stations, or even one, may economically employ the apparatus.

It will, of course, be desirableconditioned upon the amount of use to which the apparatus is subjected to periodically renew the body of filtering material. by simply loosening thecoupling structure raising the cover H, and removing as a unit the shell 3| and the layers 32 and 33. The former should be renewed frequently and the latter may be periodically cleaned so that its term of use- This may be achieved readily,

fulness may be relatively extended. Of course;

some renewal of the canvas layer will have to be resorted to, and also when the filter is open the screen 35 and other parts may be cleaned.

In conclusion, it will in the filter casing, the earth might be directly deposited in, and agitated within, the tank;5. Also, even, if the latter expedient is resorted to,

a body of filtering material as afore described be appreciated that in lieu ofhaving the body of filtering material with might be additionally placed in the filter casing.

In all instances, however, it is preferred that pipe 6, as shown, connect with the tank 5 at a point above the bottom of the latter sojthat, insofar as practicable, materials foreigntothe oil will, not pass through thesys'tem. I

Thus, among others, the several objects of the invention as specifically afore noted are achieved.

' It will be appreciated that thelsteps of the meth-' od might be varied in numerous respects -an l;;

that the structure of the apparatus might be greatly changed from the illustrated embodiment heretofore referredgto, without departing from the spirit of the invention as-fdefined by the claims. l.

Having described my invention, what I;claim as new and desire to secure by :Letters' Patent is:

1. A purifying apparatus including/in com bination, a receptacle to contain oil to be purified, a tube extending fromisaid receptacle and;

er having a substantially fiat heating surface.

connected thereto, a heating coil connected to said tube, a filter body beyond. said heating coil and to which the outlet end of the latter is connected, said filter body being f ormed with an opening for the passage of cleansed oil, means providing a vaporizing chamber below said filter body, such opening extending through to said chamber, heating means acting within said chamber, suction means, a distillate receiving tank connected to said means, a condenser coil extending from said chamber downwardly to said tank, and a receptacle for reclaimed oil also connected to said chamber.

2. Apparatus for treating oil including a heater having substantially flat heating surface for the travel of oil to be heated and having a seat extending circumferentially of said heating surface, a sheet of filtering material having its periphery supported on said sheet and covering the heater, a clamping member cooperating with said sheet to sealingly clamp the sheet of filtering material and to form a filtering receptacle above said seat, means for passing an oil mixture into said filtering receptacle, and means for creating a pressure differential on the respective sides of said sheet of filtering material to promote fiow of oil from the filtering receptacle to the heater.

3. Apparatus for treating oil including a heater having a substantially spiral passageway for passing oil to be heated and having a seat extending circumferentially of said passageway, a sheet of filtering material having its periphery supported on said seat and in covering relation with respect to the heater, a clamping member cooperating with said seat to sealingly engage the sheet of. filtering material and to form a filtering receptacle above said seat means for passing an oil mixture into said filtering receptacle, and means for creating a pressure differential on the respective sides of said sheet of filtering material to promote fiow of, oil through the sheet of filtering material and through said spiral passageway.

4. Apparatus for treating oil including a heatfor the travel of oil to be heated and having a seat extending circumferentially of said heating surface, a sheet of filtering material having its periphery supported on said seat and covering the heater, a clamping member having an annular portion cooperating with said seat to sealingly clamp the sheet of filtering material and. to form a filtering receptacle above said seat, means for passing an oil mixture into said filtering receptacle, and means for creating a pressure differential on the respective sides of. said sheet of filtering material to promote fiow of oil from the filtering receptacle to the heater.

5. Apparatus for treating oil including a heater having a substantially spiral passageway for passing oil to be heated and having a seat extending circumferentially of said passageway, a sheet of filtering material having its periphery supported on said seat and in covering relation with respect to the heater, a clamping member having an annular portion cooperating with said seat to sealingly engage the sheet of filtering material and to form a filtering receptacle above said seat, means for passing an oil mixture into said filtering receptacle, and means for creating a pressure differential on the respective sides of said sheet of filtering material to promote fiow of oil through the sheet of filtering material and through said spiral passageway.

6. Apparatus for treating oil including a heater having a substantially spiral passageway for passing oil to be heated and having a seat extending circumferentially of said passageway, a sheet of filtering material having its periphery supported on said seat and in covering relation with respect to the heater, a clamping member having an annular portion cooperating with said seat to sealingly engage the sheet of filtering material and to form a filtering receptacle above said seat, and means for passing an oil mixture into said filtering receptacle for fiow through the sheet of filtering material and through the spiral passageway of the heater.

THEODORE A. LA BRECQUE. 

